
“You do,” I assured him quite calmly. “That is why I am here.”432Please respect copyright.PENANAkpExkOSlt4
“How are you acquainted with any of them?” He asked quite seriously, and only432Please respect copyright.PENANACV43yHZLOK
then did his eyes seem to notice my hair, which was blue all over except for its still432Please respect copyright.PENANAKAKTxxemzd
black tips. “You’re quite the odd one.” He admitted, while he was far from what anyone432Please respect copyright.PENANAowbRJIwdfp
would deem as ´normal´. “And I do not need my bigger glasses to see that.”432Please respect copyright.PENANArdWSdq6zZB
“Here. This is for you,” I tried to hand him my big notebook, the one that had been432Please respect copyright.PENANA0rE6s8BmOw
resting safely beside me. Almost falling out of it was a whole compendium of drawings432Please respect copyright.PENANAKfNlqwVvFz
and other poorly attached notes. “Father wanted you to have it.” I nudged it towards432Please respect copyright.PENANAFa6TPU26QL
him. “He also wanted me to go with you.”432Please respect copyright.PENANAgAjV73P3He
“Father, you say?” He cautiously asked as he refused the offer, “I am afraid I will have432Please respect copyright.PENANA9KWxA3Fr1f
to doubt that. You see little one, I am not one with many friends, let alone associates.”432Please respect copyright.PENANA9P71r6DTrE
He then took a few steps back “No, you must be mistaken. But fret not, you may432Please respect copyright.PENANArr1zAGOtdW
accompany me back to my place, if you so wish of course. After all, it is not proper to432Please respect copyright.PENANALKV9nTwprn
leave one so small and meek behind, especially in a place like this. Old Gorliochi over432Please respect copyright.PENANASoxMZBt4a3
there,” His eyes went straight towards that beast; this one was completely relaxed even432Please respect copyright.PENANAhSdkGmGXmE
if its jaws kept finding one thing or another to chew on, “he can easily carry the both432Please respect copyright.PENANAVpItOrpASb
of us for as long as necessary. He has been with me for many seasons now, lending a432Please respect copyright.PENANAfkRGAAQdwg
hand in the carrying of all sorts of things.”432Please respect copyright.PENANAyHDAnedy3A
He smiled, but it was a ruse that could not hope to work on the likes of one such as432Please respect copyright.PENANAOi68pD2lNK
me. “Like all sorts of flowers and fungi that I so often like to come and find in these432Please respect copyright.PENANAZ64RlEViZm
parts... Or even -”432Please respect copyright.PENANAct1b6FhQto
“You are no mere flower picker or mushroom gatherer.” I said as I kept forcing that432Please respect copyright.PENANA8SOl8wxKA8
notebook onto him. “Go on, take it. You are the Thinker-Tinker, and you are meant432Please respect copyright.PENANA24vz73imj1
to read it.”432Please respect copyright.PENANAeigeIlzie4
A short silence stood between the two of us ...432Please respect copyright.PENANAQ14wpV8vhn
“Your father, who is he then?” He eventually asked, even if his interests appeared432Please respect copyright.PENANAmaev86wqmn
to be dwindling the more he was going through those notes and drawings, “I know432Please respect copyright.PENANAfauUDdot6B
many of the names inscribed here.” He kept confessing, as he tipped his glasses just432Please respect copyright.PENANA90pcYdeoeT
in time to prevent them from falling off his curved nose; and then he looked at me432Please respect copyright.PENANAnNKlhxH9TF
with refulgent eyes: “Some of these people, they are in these drawings of yours as well!432Please respect copyright.PENANAouDNxquPrZ
And this man here; a Kharn. He is my friend. A dear one.”432Please respect copyright.PENANA7rejOiqhIX
“That is Father,” I said to his amazement ...432Please respect copyright.PENANA2Nf2X65Y5j
A long pause took over his person.432Please respect copyright.PENANAKfjpuH0gv3
Many of his past fears but also promises came to haunt him, and without a432Please respect copyright.PENANAaQYqg8O2im
moment’s notice, his head became occupied with all sorts of questions and possibilities.432Please respect copyright.PENANABU40qIONqQ
There were so many ´If ’s´ and ´Buts´ and ´What’s´ swirling in his mind - and in432Please respect copyright.PENANAX3YnQ3NKuG
the end all I heard him think to himself was: “This is likely to bring me quite the432Please respect copyright.PENANA2KVnkjHWY9
unwanted trouble, but if there is any chance of truth to it, at all; of a real connection432Please respect copyright.PENANAWI3ZfqEEUG
between this little one and that ol’ fool... What choice do I have?”432Please respect copyright.PENANAHGv00EZKPB
“Who are you girl?” his eyes swelled up as he confronted me again, “and how did432Please respect copyright.PENANAWbgjNcvFlu
you get your hands on all this?”432Please respect copyright.PENANADcR9oX4Drq
“As I said, all of it was wrought by my hand.”432Please respect copyright.PENANAIFSOVAGHEg
“You wrote...” His eyes travelled between note and drawing alike “all this?432Please respect copyright.PENANAIHBN23sHNB
What made you do such a thing?” He asked with his eyes now trembling with432Please respect copyright.PENANAWzuCJpd5FJ
restlessness.432Please respect copyright.PENANAogExFtfTWH
“And then you will read it?”432Please respect copyright.PENANA4iesU73UBj
“Oh, I most definitely will. The spark of curiosity has already been lit inside me.”432Please respect copyright.PENANACslOcMlCNN
He then reassured me further, “My interest has already peaked way past the point of432Please respect copyright.PENANATr9rhx1ZBg
arousal, don’t you worry.” And after he weighed all of it with both hands; “But I will432Please respect copyright.PENANAmeKAA0mo66
have to do so back at my place. You understand that this is quite a lot to go through?”432Please respect copyright.PENANAMOT1Uv39rz
“Quite,” I replied after I added a few extra notes I had on my person.432Please respect copyright.PENANATM2zEgoZzp
“Besides, I don’t have my reading glasses on me.” He added somewhat flippantly432Please respect copyright.PENANA5Z6bxki11W
“I mean why would I bring them; you know? It’s not like I get to meet little girls432Please respect copyright.PENANACd5man1bAQ
carrying tomes for me regularly.”432Please respect copyright.PENANAu4APEPsNbX
I nodded in concordance, and then he suggested we should make haste. Insisting, as432Please respect copyright.PENANAMoYHnllWbT
we made our way to that beast, that I should tell him, or rather prepare him, for what432Please respect copyright.PENANAhJuaFivv08
could be in store inside that notebook.432Please respect copyright.PENANAsBSlNAUPjH